Public Training Courses

Regular training courses run globally for individuals across all digital topics including
Search, Ecommerce, Email, Analytics and more.

Custom Training

Your team is not like any other. You're addressing specific challenges and opportunities with a
particular skill set. That's where our bespoke, in-company digital training comes in.

Elearning

Econsultancy's elearning modules offer a comprehensive and convenient introduction to core digital
marketing and ecommerce skills when you or your team need to get up to speed quickly.

Online Classroom

The Econsultancy Online Classroom provides all the advantages of our face-to-face training, with the
added benefit of a flexible, online format that allows you to learn wherever you are. Accessible now
as an upgrade to the Econsultancy subscription.

Related Tags

Apple tries to throw competitors under the bus, but they won't go quietly

Apple's press conference last Friday was a notable event for the company. Not simply because Steve Jobs took the stage, but because the purpose of the press conference was to address problems being reported with an existing product, the iPhone 4.

It was unfamiliar territory for Apple and Steve Jobs. Jobs, of course, is used to introducing new products, not dealing with an existing one that is the subject of customer complaints, class action lawsuits and a media firestorm.

Apple is an unconventional company, and Friday's press conference was anything but conventional. For one, Apple didn't provide much detail beforehand; it simply invited some of the most recognizable names in the tech media and blogosphere to attend. And at the end of the day, Jobs didn't issue any apologies.

Instead, while Jobs admitted that "we aren't perfect" and offered free cases to iPhone 4 customers, he largely tried to rely on his charisma to convince the audience that the iPhone 4's antenna problems really don't exist at all. One of the ways he tried to accomplish this: by claiming that all smartphones have similar issues. He stated:

There is no Antennagate... there is a challenge for the entire smartphone
industry to improve its antenna technology so there are no weak spots.

Jobs' attempt to turn the iPhone 4's problem into an industry problem is a risky maneuver, but Jobs is perhaps the only CEO who has the ability to pull it off. Whether he did it successfully, however, only time will tell. Apple's competitors, however, won't make it easy as they wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to counter Apple.

Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.

Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including
how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on.
As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize
antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In
general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a
tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That's why Nokia designs our
phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when
the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in
studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for
example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by
careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.

HTC, which manufactures a phone (the Droid Eris) Jobs mentioned in his presentation, told Pocket-lint that a very small fraction of customers have complained about the phone and stated "we have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris."

Finally, Motorola has also chimed in, according to the Wall Street Journal:

Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola, said yesterday that antennas being
placed on the outside of devices have known issues, which is why
they’ve been avoided in the past.

Consumer Reports, which has actively tracked the situation, is backing the other smartphone makers up. Mike Gikas of Consumer Reports stated, "The human hand -- the body -- attenuates signal on all phones. But we haven't seen it happen to the degree that it's happened with the iPhone 4."

History, of course, is written by the victor. Despite the position Apple is in, Steve Jobs' words still carry a lot of weight, and his attempt to portray the iPhone 4's antenna problem as an industry-wide issue may indeed succeed, even if such a portrayal isn't entirely accurate. But it clearly won't be as easy as Jobs and Apple would like, and it doesn't look like Apple will have much help from the usually compliant media this time around.

Posts trending now

Enjoying this article?

Get more just like this, delivered to your inbox.

Keep up to date with the latest analysis, inspiration and learning from the Econsultancy blog with our free Digital Pulse newsletter. You will receive a hand-picked digest of the latest and greatest articles, as well as snippets of new market data, best practice guides and trends research.